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September 5, 2008

G140: Red Sox 8, Rangers 1

With the Rays losing 6-4 in Toronto, the Red Sox are now only 2.5 GB in the East -- the closest they have been to first place since July 29.

Beckett was dominant (5-4-0-0-7, 80). Three of those four hits came in the fourth inning; the first runner was erased on a double play.

Lowell homered in his first AB, and added a two-run single and a one-run double. Coco Crisp had three hits and three RBI. He and Jacoby Ellsbury hit back-to-back triples on consecutive pitches in the sixth inning.

Jason Varitek had two singles and a walk and Jason Bay doubled and walked twice. Dustin Pedroia doubled in the first inning, but then was quiet until a walk in the eighth. The only Sock to not reach base was David Ortiz.

Despite the high score, Francona went with Manny Delcarmen, Justin Masterson, and Hideki Okajima out of the pen.

Both Central contenders won their games by a 10-2 score: White Sox over the Angels and the Twins over the Tigers. The Mariners beat the Yankees 3-1; Brandon Morrow, in his first start after 100 relief appearances, came within four outs of throwing a no-hitter.

First baseman Sean Casey, third baseman Mike Lowell and tonight's starting pitcher Josh Beckett have officially been activated off of the disabled list ...

Casey (neck) has not played since Aug. 19, Lowell (right oblique) has not played since Aug. 12 and Beckett (elbow) has not pitched since Aug. 17.

Since the All-Star break, Lowell is hitting .187/.253/.253 in 22 games/99 PA, all of them in either the #4 or #5 spot. I hope Tito stops batting him in front ahead of Jason Bay -- .305/.356/.500 in 29 games/132 PA in a Red Sox uniform.

Tony Massarotti has moved from the Herald to the Globe (many of Boston's sportswriters have been playing musical chairs recently) and he discusses Josh Beckett's return from the disabled list tonight. He says Beckett will be limited to 55-60 pitches. Also expected back tonight are Mike Lowell and Sean Casey (and maybe Kevin Youkilis).

The Herald has been hit hard this summer, with Mazz to the Globe, Rob Bradford to WEEI and Jeff Horrigan to retirement. The Hartford Courant will cut its original reporting on the Red Sox after this season, leaving Jeff Goldberg out in the cold. And Gordon Edes recently left the Globe for Yahoo.

Amalie Benjamin has a brief wrap-up of how Boston's minor league playoff teams are doing:

After Pawtucket and Portland lost Wednesday in the openers of their postseason series, the Sox affiliates split yesterday. Portland lost its second game in the Eastern League playoffs to host Trenton, 4-3. Starter Clay Buchholz allowed three runs on six hits with one walk in six innings. He struck out nine and got a no-decision. That series continues tonight at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, at 7 as the Sea Dogs try to avoid a sweep in the best-of-five series. Host Pawtucket pulled out Game 2 of the International League series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (the Yankees' Triple A affiliate), 3-1. Jason Lane and Jeff Corsaletti hit home runs, making Devern Hansack a winner. Game 3 is tonight at 7:05.

*: The White Sox (78-61, 4 GB Boston) lead the Central.#: Included simply for laughs. Any combination of Tampa Bay wins and New York losses totalling 13 eliminates the Yankees from winning the East. Any combination of Red Sox wins and New York losses totalling 16 eliminates the Yankees from winning the wild card. YED is nigh!

I hate that he is all high and mighty now. I hate him for the allstar game jerking off he got from all of the media. I hate that he suddenly woke up and realized he had to play baseball because that was his calling. I hate that he will fade away into nothingness soon enough and all this attention was for nothing. I hate all his god worshipping crap. I hate him for everything that he wants us to believe he is and for who he really is.

I'm anti-god talk, especially when someone gives the credit to god first, before their teammates! How rude! But there are plenty of god guys on every team including ours. Gotta take the good with the god. But that doesn't make god-talk any less dumb.

Hell, a lot of IJ could be used by a recovery addict to keep his shit together. From reading the novel, it's my belief is that the author, David Foster Wallace, must have gone through some serious recovery himself, though it is never talked/written about in interviews.

And B, if it were, at least you can continue living your life, stay alive, stay out of prison, not ruin your family's lives, etc. An "addiction" to god is much better than an addiction to heroin, crack, alcohol.

Have you been going to an evangelical born again school auditorium church the last few months because your wife drags you there even though they think the cavemen rode on dinosaurs like they were elephants?

Have you been going to an evangelical born again school auditorium church the last few months because your wife drags you there even though they think the cavemen rode on dinosaurs like they were elephants?

See I worry about society when what people need is some completely made-up bullshit.

You can be good to others and live a respectable life just because. If you gave a god person proof that there is no god, and they believed you, would they still be a good person, or would they say "screw it, I don't have "god" to impress anymore"?

Jays are better than the rays. The rays are getting handled lately. Wonder why. Could it be the curse of a too-hot team? Could it be they were lucky before? Why aren't they dominating now? Good teams don't get whooped on in 2 series in a row against the shittiest teams in your division.

Are there no AA programs without any religion/higher power stuff? That seems strange.

I've talked about this a lot. We have a close friend whose brother (also our friend) is an alcoholic, and cannot abide the religious overtones of AA, and has not been able to find any recovery programs w/o it.

That is why the Joy is better than the SoSH. They are just a bunch of baseball nerds. We are to an extent but then we are real people who tie in real life stuff and still make a coherent thread for each game. Hell the threads should be made for each day as the talk goes into many different areas each day regardless if there is a game or not. But the game thread thing is the superstitious thing to do.

Evening everyone. Spent the afternoon in Portland, inside a San Francisco-type marine layer. 62° (17°C) at 3:00 up there... got home a few minutes after nine, about 45 miles south, and it's 72° (22°C). Strange stuff.

What isn't strange is this game. Beckett's absolutely DEALING! 44 pitches through 4 2/3? And Lowell hitting a dong and a double?

I've talked about this a lot. We have a close friend whose brother (also our friend) is an alcoholic, and cannot abide the religious overtones of AA, and has not been able to find any recovery programs w/o it.

Shit. I shouldn't become an alcoholic, then. I don't like God stuff, and try not to do anything related to it (to the point of refusing to say a prayer in a funeral when I was asked to). I think it's disrespectful to those who believe in it to fake it, and I see no reason for it.

See I worry about society when what people need is some completely made-up bullshit.

I think religion is much more dependent on education and tradition than on actual need. People grow up with so much god around them, that even if they believe god doesn't exist, it has a significant effect on their life perspective.

Fuck I hate how the MLB.com programs are all fucking different. GDGD is behind by like 1-2 batters, the live scoreboard is right on but the standings don't update automatically. Can't some automated computer code be written to fix this?